Oop! I did it. I installed DSL on top of Windows and Mepis. Now I can't boot Mepis(I can still boot Windows). When I try to boot Mepis all I get is 'GRUB' and the system hangs.

The boot menu(Red DSL menu) gives me four options:


hda8 - DSL
hda1 - Windows
hda6 - Mepis
hdb5 - Windows


Fixing the problem is probably simple, but before I do something rash, I'd better get some good advice.

James Oliver

Not really sure what to do. I know DSL uses LILO not GRUB, so maybe that is part of the problem? I will be interested to read others replies.

Here is additional information on my dilemna.

I have three OSs installed on my computer:

Windows 98 on hda1
Mepis on hda5(SWAP), hda6(root), and hda7(home)
DamnSmallLinux on hda8


(I plan to install other distributions later for comparison.)

Windows was installed first. Mepis came later with GRUB boot loader installed and 'menu.lst' in the '/root/grub' directory. It worked well. Finally I loaded DamnSmallLinux which, I believe, installed the LILO boot loader with its 'lilo.conf' file in '/etc'.

With those entries(see exerpts below) in 'lilo.conf' I can boot DamnSmallLinux(default) and Windows, but when I try to boot Mepis I get:

Mepis
GRUB

and the system hangs. I have to 'CTRL-ALT-DEL' to regain control.



Here are pertinent entries from my 'lilo.conf' file:

--- beginning ---

boot=/dev/hda

# Specifies the device that should be mounted as root. (`/')

root=/dev/hda8


# Boot up DamnSmallLinux by default.

default=DamnSmallLinux

image=/boot/linux24
label=DamnSmallLinux
read-only


other=/dev/hda1
label="Windows98"

other=/dev/hda6
label="Mepis"

--- end of file ---


Here are pertinent entries from my '/grub/menu.lst' file:

--- beginning ---

title MEPIS at hda6, kernel 2.6.7
kernel (hd0,5)/boot/vmlinuz-2.6.7 root=/dev/hda6 nomce psmouse.proto=imps quiet splash=verbose vga=normal acpi=off apm=power_off noacpi
initrd (hd0,5)/boot/initrd.mepis
savedefault

title MEPIS at hda6, kernel 2.4.26
kernel (hd0,5)/boot/vmlinuz-2.4.26 root=/dev/hda6 nomce quiet splash=verbose vga=normal hdc=ide-scsi acpi=off apm=power_off noacpi
initrd (hd0,5)/boot/initrd.mepis
savedefault

title Windows 98
rootnoverify (hd0,0)
chainloader +1

--- end of file ---


How can I get my system to boot Mepis(and any other distribution) I choose to put on other partitions?

Do I use GRUB or LILO?

I get 'command not found' when I type 'grub' in DamnSmallLinux, and, of course, I can't get into Mepis.

I'll keep trying!!

Thanks.

James Oliver

My 'simple' solution, use the liveCD of MEPIS, and re-install grub.

I installed XFld after MEPIS, and it too uses lilo, but couldnt 'find' the MEPIS location (or something...)

I resolved it by using the MEPIS cd to re-install grub.

elmo40:

The LiveCD for MEPIS does come in handy. I used it to reinstall GRUB and it got rid of the LILO that DamnSmallLinux(DSL) had installed in the MBR.

I then added:

title DamnSmallLinux at hda8
kernel (hd0,7)/boot/linux24 root=/dev/hda8
savedefault

to my menu.lst file and I can now boot DSL. I'm still looking at the boot options for booting DSL.

Thanks for helping.

James Oliver

I believe another version of the frugal install script will be introduced soon that will use grub, but I dont think it is available yet.

Here is a post about using grub with a hd install.
http://damnsmalllinux.org/cgi-bin/fo...;t=6022;hl=apt